The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code was published in 2003 and became one of the best-selling American novels of all time, which had the effect of turning its author's earlier books into bestsellers as well. It is the second of Dan Brown's novels to feature Robert Langdon, after Angels & Demons in 2000, and it works as a standalone. The book's structure is fixed from the first pages: a murder, a pair of investigators who do not entirely trust each other, a set of puzzles that must be solved before the next deadline, and short chapters that break off at the moment a question is raised.

The plot turns on the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei, two organisations with real names and, in the novel, invented roles, and on a reading of Leonardo's work that the book presents as a code. Brown's mixture of art history, church politics and conspiracy was the reason the book sold and also the reason it was challenged, and several historians published rebuttals of its central claims. Those arguments are part of the book's history and are worth knowing about before starting it.

The novel was adapted for film in 2006 with Tom Hanks as Langdon, directed by Ron Howard, and the film was followed by adaptations of the other Langdon books. Brown's writing is deliberately plain and his chapters are short, which is a technique rather than an accident: the book is designed to be read quickly. It sits with the conspiracy thrillers and the historical puzzles rather than with the police procedurals.